How to Be Eccentric: The Films of Richard Massingham (1933-1950)

"If you asked me who is the great English cineaste, I would reply: Massingham."
--Henri Langlois, founder, Cinematheque Française Though unknown to contemporary audiences, Richard Massingham was recognizable to anyone who went to the cinema in Britain during the 1940s.

Massingham starred as a well-meaning but absent-minded everyman in a series of imaginative shorts that provided instruction on such quotidian experiences as blowing one's nose, crossing the street, and bathing in just five inches of water (a commonplace during war-time rationing).

Often serving as producer and director as well, Massingham was compared to Georges Melies, Luis Bunuel, and Mack Sennett by Cinematheque Francaise founder Henri Langlois. This 15-film program (82 mins.) includes such gems as Tell Me if It Hurts, Jet Propelled Germs, and Handkerchief Drill.

How to Be Eccentric: The Films of Richard Massingham was organized by the British Film Institute.